


Going Under

by DinerGuy



Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Drowning, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not quite a deathfic, Peril, Suspense, Trapped, Whump, epic rescues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 07:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20542454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinerGuy/pseuds/DinerGuy
Summary: Shifting the wrong piece of rubble could cause more harm than good, and that seemed to also be the case here. At least topside, there wasn't usually a clock on when the person who was trapped would drown.





	Going Under

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to frankie_mcstein for making sure I used the correct British spellings/phrases for Higgy's POV.
> 
> (And yes, Higgins technically died in S01E19, because you don't do CPR if someone's heart hasn't stopped, and if that doesn't just give me even more feels...)
> 
> Standard disclaimers apply.

It was not the sort of day when anyone wanted to be outdoors. The wind was whipping the palm trees overhead, and the rain was pattering the roof of the Range Rover.

Juliet held the steering wheel just a little more tightly than usual as she drove down the oceanside highway. Off to her left, past where the land dropped off to the ocean, she could see the waves lapping toward the shore, whipped up more than usual thanks to the weather. The winding road required careful attention on a normal day, even more so when wet.

Beside her, Magnum glanced in the rearview mirror at where the Island Hoppers van was also taking it slowly a few yards back. "What do you want to bet Rick's complaining about T.C.'s driving?" he grinned.

She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I guarantee I would be complaining about yours if we'd taken the Ferrari."

"Hey now; my driving is fine," he defended himself. "We only took the Rover because you didn't want me driving a sports car on the beach."

Sighing, Juliet flicked the wipers on as she replied, "Yes, because this is precisely why they make _off-road _vehicles. So that when one wishes to drive _off _the road, say, to the beach for diving practice, they do not have to park away from the water and lug their gear down the sand."

"We loaded everything into T.C.'s van anyway," Magnum protested. "We could've just done that in the first place."

Juliet shook her head and laughed. "Oh, stop. You're just sore that you didn't get to drive."

"Maybe." He smirked.

"You know, if I had a penny for every time I rolled my eyes at something you said, I would be rich enough to buy my own estate," she replied, keeping her gaze on the road but knowing full well he was smirking at her from the passenger seat.

They both fell forward slightly as she pressed the brake to avoid a stray cat that ran across the road. Juliet started to shake her head and make an off-hand comment about the wildlife, but she didn't get a chance to say anything before the Rover lurched to the left.

The sound of tyres whirring against wet gravel echoed through the car, and Juliet clenched the wheel tighter as the vehicle started to fishtail. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Magnum reach out and grasp the handle on the side of the car, but she didn't have time to stop and look closer. The SUV was seriously out of control now, and she was having trouble keeping it on track. It veered to the left and then to the right; she twisted the wheel in either direction, fighting against the bucking machine, but to no avail. They were spinning out, and, although Juliet had once driven a Jeep through a Siberian blizzard, she still couldn't keep the Rover's nose straight.

Magnum yelled, "Watch out!" just before they hit a rock next to the road and went airborne.

And then the Rover was flipping in midair, skipping off the ground once and rolling 360 degrees. Both occupants were thrown around even as their seatbelts tightened against their chests. Broken glass flew through the car, the crunching of metal filled the air—and then, suddenly, they were airborne.

She barely had time to realise they'd gone off the edge of the dropoff before they hit the water.

The SUV had rotated more as it plummeted into the ocean, so they were now more or less right-side-up. The vehicle floated on the surface for the briefest of moments before sinking beneath the waves. In that short span of time, Juliet managed to fill her lungs with a deep breath of air before water rushed in through the broken windows and fully submerged the Rover.

She felt for her seatbelt buckle, using her fingers to locate the latch. At first, it wouldn't give, and she fought against the urge to panic, knowing it would do more harm than good. She tried again, feeling the relief wash through her when her seatbelt released. Pushing it aside, she squinted against the saltwater stinging her eyes to make out the door next to her. It wouldn't open, even though she tried the handle several times, so she turned to her window. The glass pane was shattered, and, luckily, most of the shards seemed to have been knocked from the frame. She reached up and grasped the top edge of the window, pulling herself up and then out into the open water.

Her lungs were burning, and all she could think of was to get to the surface so she could breathe again. She kicked her legs and propelled herself toward the light she could make out above her head. It seemed to take forever compared to how quickly they'd gone down, but she finally made it. Coughing and sputtering, she sucked in a lungful of air, blinking the water out of her eyes.

She panted, heaving for breath as she paddled against the waves. It felt like her lungs just couldn't get enough air. This felt rather unhappily like when she'd awoken, gasping, on the atoll that time Magnum had—

Magnum!

Frantically, Juliet looked around, realising the man was nowhere to be seen. He'd been right beside her when they'd gone over the edge, so why—

Oh no.

Something had happened. He must still be down there.

Her heart dropped as the thought occurred to her, and she sucked in a deep breath and then dove. After having just gone under in a sinking car, this was the last thing she wanted to be doing, but now her mind was fixed on one thing: finding Magnum.

She pushed herself to swim downward, kicking hard toward where the Rover had now settled on the ocean floor. The water was clear enough to see for miles, and she could easily make out the dark-colored SUV resting on the sand.

The vehicle wasn't even all that deep, considering, but it still took her a good ten to fifteen seconds that felt like an eternity before she reached it. She could see Magnum's form still in the passenger seat, and he was moving around, so at least she knew he hadn't been knocked unconscious or something more dire. But then why hadn't he gotten out of the wreckage yet?

Now near enough to reach the vehicle, Juliet reached for the handle to the passenger-side door and yanked on it. The hinges wouldn't give an inch, though, and, when she glanced down in search of why, she saw the bottom portion of the metal door had been punched inward by one of the impacts it must have taken in the crash. It didn't look like it would release without a lot of force. She glanced through the window and locked eyes with Magnum, who was watching her with an expression that was a heartbreaking attempt not to panic.

Juliet's throat clenched as she tried to give him a reassuring look, then she quickly pushed herself upward, letting her momentum carry her over the roof, and then dropping down to again wiggle through the window she'd used to escape.

He turned to look her way as she appeared beside him, their eyes meeting through the clear water. When she grabbed at his arm, he shook his head and gestured downward. Juliet followed his pointing finger, and she felt her stomach twist at the sight that met her eyes.

The damage she'd observed on the outside of the door was even worse when viewed from the inside, where it seemed to merge with a piece of the engine that had come through the front of the vehicle. To make matters absolutely worse was the fact that Magnum's right leg was wedged somewhere in that twisted wreckage. His knee was just visible, but the rest was lost within the mess of mangled metal.

Juliet barely stopped herself from the gasp that tried to push its way out of her throat, but she pinched her lips together and pushed forward through the water to reach for Magnum's leg. If she could just figure out the right leverage needed, they could pull his leg free—

Magnum suddenly grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back to him, and shook his head emphatically when she looked at him questioningly. The meaning behind his expression was devastatingly clear: he'd been trying to free himself since they'd gone under but to no avail.

No. There had to be a way. She shook her own head in response and reached for the door again; she just needed to try a different angle of force.

Something in the wreckage shifted, but Magnum grasped her arm quickly and firmly. When she looked back in question, she caught the pain now etched across his face and realised with a flash of guilt how her rescue efforts must be moving his pinned leg the wrong way. She had to admit she couldn't fully see everything down there. How did she know she wasn't causing a piece of the damaged vehicle to stab into him even more every time she moved something? That was how it worked when rescuing trapped victims on the surface; shifting the wrong piece of rubble could cause more harm than good, and that seemed to also be the case here. At least topside, there wasn't usually a clock on when the person who was trapped would _drown._

Drown.

Juliet looked back at the man beside her with wide eyes. If she could now feel her lungs starting to burn again when she'd already surfaced once… Magnum might have been a Navy SEAL, but even SEALs had their limits on how long they could hold their breath. What was it she'd read once? Three minutes on average? And Magnum had been out of the military for a while now. Even if he'd stayed on top of his training, how long had it been since they'd crashed anyway? It felt like an eternity.

The look in his eyes told her she was right, and _that_ scared her.

Something she'd learned years ago in a swim rescue class sprang to her mind, and she knew it was the only hope she had of saving Magnum.

Without another moment's hesitation, Juliet grabbed both sides of his face and pressed her mouth to his.

He immediately stiffened, but she trusted he'd know what she was doing. Sure enough, as she pushed her remaining air into his lungs, he relaxed under her grasp.

Having expended all she had, Juliet pulled away and pushed herself out of the window. She didn't even glance backward as she went; her lungs were burning, and she knew she had to get back to the top. By the time she neared the surface, she felt like she might pass out. But, finally, she made it, and she gasped desperately. She hadn't had much air to spare to begin with, and so she'd given Magnum everything she could.

From off to her right, she heard what sounded like Rick yelling her name, but she didn't stop to look his way. After a brief moment to steady her breathing, Juliet took a full, deep breath and then dove back under the waves. She raced downward, pushing herself as hard as she could.

When she swam back through the front window, she saw Magnum watching her, and she didn't hesitate before repeating the process of transferring her air to him. Her eyes met his as she pulled away, and she squeezed his hand encouragingly before heading for the surface again. While she knew Magnum could hold his breath far longer than she could, she was not about to take any chances. With the time it took to traverse the open water to and from the Rover, she was already cutting it way too close for comfort.

Her legs were aching and her chest was burning, but she couldn't stop to think about that. There would be time enough later, but saving Magnum was all that mattered at the moment.

"Higgy!"

She heard her name as she resurfaced, and she quickly turned toward the voice. T.C. was standing on the edge of the bank above her, although she didn't see Rick—but she didn't take the time to look for him either. "Magnum's trapped!" she yelled back before taking another breath and going back under. She didn't have time to explain, and she trusted T.C. to put the pieces together.

Sure enough, as she neared the seabed again, she felt movement in the water nearby and glanced over to see the other man swimming alongside her. His broad strokes helped him catch up to her, and they both reached the wreckage at the same time. Juliet tapped his shoulder and gestured to her own leg, then to the vehicle, and T.C. nodded in understanding. When they reached the vehicle, he swam over to Magnum's side of the Rover while she repeated her trip through the broken-out window to resupply their friend with fresh air.

But, this time, Magnum coughed while her lips were still pressed to his, sending a sudden rush of air back into her lungs. It caught her by surprise, and she also coughed, a reflexive response before her brain could process that was a _really_ bad thing to do underwater.

Saltwater rushed into her nose and mouth, choking her, and she coughed again. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she needed to stop, to clench her mouth shut and hold in whatever air was left, but her body wasn't listening. She felt herself hit the windscreen behind her, which drew more air from her lungs, and then float up to bump against the car's roof. Her vision was quickly dimming.

There was an incredible burning sensation all through her nose and throat and chest that travelled up to pound into her head. She knew she needed to get out of the Rover and to the surface, but she just couldn't _move._

The last thing she felt was something firm grasping her arm and yanking her sideways, and then everything faded to black.

* * *

She came to, gagging and choking as the water she'd inhaled made a violent exit from her lungs. Hands turned her on her side as she heaved, and she could hear a voice nearby saying something in an encouraging tone. Coughing, she spit out the remaining water still in her mouth, grimacing at the taste of salt and bile mixing in the back of her throat.

Whoever was holding her lowered her gently back to lie on warm sand, and Juliet groaned as she squinted her eyes open. The sun was coming out from behind the clouds now, and the day was disconcertingly bright. Everything hurt. Her chest ached, there was a sharp pain in her side that felt like a busted rib from CPR, and her throat felt like someone had given it a good rubbing with sandpaper.

She blinked up at the figure above her, trying to recall the series of events that had led her to her current position.

"Welcome back, Higgy."

The weak voice to her left drew her attention immediately, and she winced at the way her head swam as she turned a little too fast toward it. "Magnum?" she asked, frowning at how her voice cracked in the middle of the word.

He was also lying on his back in the sand about a foot away from her, and he smiled weakly as her eyes met his. "Welcome back."

"What—" Her question broke off with a cough that seemed to aggravate every nerve ending in her body.

"You drowned. Again," he added, raising an eyebrow. He shifted, and then she felt his hand close around hers. "You gotta stop doing that to me, Higgy."

She groaned and closed her eyes. "Yes, well, this time it was your fault, you know." Then a thought occurred to her, and she opened her eyes again. Glancing up, she saw Rick and T.C. watching them both with expressions that were simultaneously relieved and still worried. "What happened?"

T.C. rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't just blame T.M., Higgy; I guess you could say it was kinda my fault."

She tilted her head in confusion.

"I saw a way to get his leg unstuck, but it was just as you were giving him another breath, and I… Well, I guess I jostled his leg, and his reaction threw you off. You started flailing around something awful and then just went limp, so I pulled you out as fast as I could."

"Meanwhile, I was on my way down when T.C. raced past me carrying you," Rick jumped in. "I knew something had to be wrong, so I went down and found Thomas looking like he was about to pass out. He was just getting his leg the rest of the way free but was almost past his limit with the air he still had. Thankfully, I had thought to grab some of the gear from the van, so I got him breathing again while I towed him to the surface."

Magnum rolled his eyes. "Hey, I swam on my own, thank you very much."

"Right," Rick retorted. "And that's why you're still lying on the beach like a dead fish."

That drew a chuckle from Juliet—which then prompted another round of coughing, and she groaned in pain at the movement.

The three men shared a look, and she frowned as she caught it. "What?" she asked hoarsely.

"We were just worried there for a second, Jules," Rick supplied, reaching over to pat her shoulder. "It took T.C. a good minute or so to convince you to rejoin us." The look on his face told her just how worried he'd been.

The distant wail of sirens filled the air, and T.C. pushed to his feet. "I'll go make sure they find us," he said, setting off at a jog toward the steep path up the side of the hill.

Juliet shifted to glance down the beach. She could see where the small patch of sand where they were lying ended and where the infernal drop-off they'd gone off of lay just a few yards farther away. Sighing, she sank back against the warm sand and closed her eyes. Just the thought of the insurance paperwork over the ruined SUV at the bottom of the ocean made her headache flare even more.

"Higgy?" Magnum's voice drew her eyes open again. "You okay?"

"Hmm," she mumbled, shifting her head slightly. "I'll recover."

Rick cleared his throat. "Well, _I_ might not after that heart attack you gave me flipping your car and going over the edge like that." He gave his friends a look that he probably meant to be stern but was more relieved than anything else. "Don't ever do that again."

"I promise to try not to," Magnum supplied. "How about that?"

Rolling his eyes again, Rick shook his head. "I guess I shouldn't expect any more from you."

There were voices at the top of the beach path then, and the trio glanced over to see T.C. leading two teams of paramedics down toward them. Both were armed with backboards and medical bags, and Rick nodded in satisfaction.

Next to her, Juliet saw Magnum start to sit up, but Rick cleared his throat sternly.

"Nuh-uh, mister. Stay right where you are," he ordered, crossing his arms.

With a sigh of protest, Magnum did as he was told. Juliet let out a small chuckle, which pulled her fellow patient's attention back to her.

"Hey," he said, reaching to brush her fingers again. "Thanks, by the way."

She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"For what you did," he added. "You saved my life, you know."

"Right," she replied, smothering another cough that tickled at her throat. "Well, you would've done the same for me."

"Just accept the compliment," Magnum told her with a playful roll of his eyes. "And yes, I know," he added more seriously. "But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful. Really, Juliet; thanks."

She smiled faintly just before the paramedics arrived and blocked her view of Magnum where he was lying beside her. "You're welcome, Thomas."


End file.
